


Rather a turn in the plot

by GamblingDementor



Category: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder - Lutvak/Freedman
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Morning After
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 10:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13738899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/pseuds/GamblingDementor
Summary: Monty wakes to blue frilly undies on his face and the taste of scotch at the back of his mouth.Inspired by a prompt I received on Tumblr, "Modern AU: The Trio have a drunken three way one night in college. They each wake up the next morning remembering a different part of the night before."





	Rather a turn in the plot

Monty wakes to blue frilly undies on his face and the taste of scotch at the back of his mouth. He frowns, trying to part the clouds shrouding his numb mind, the memories of last night blurry and blending into each other. Something about Sibella's last day at the dorm before Christmas break and celebrating their last night together before the new year, movie night with her two best friends…

 

A whistling breath shakes him from his thought. He tears the mystery underwear from his eyes only to find himself face to face with a sleeping Phoebe. He can't help a smile at the peaceful sight, adorable as ever, a tendril of hair in front of her nose fluttering with every exhale. And in her arms between the two of them, there is the star of the night, his economics class group partner whom he can never stop thinking about except to think of Phoebe, the lovely Sibella… He pauses for a second, his brain struggling to keep up with what his eyes are sending, because how could Phoebe and Sibella possibly be in the same bed as him? Sibella's bed, too, he notices, a dozen froufrou pillows across it, pink silk for bed sheets. And even more, none of them seem to be wearing any clothes and though the girls are still soundly asleep, he most definitely is not and his crotch is threatening to come into contact with…

 

"What the…!" He yelps, startling so hard he falls onto the floor.

 

His head throbs with dull ache at the sudden movement and there is a stirring on the bed and Monty's condition is made certainly no better by the vision of Sibella nestling closer to Phoebe who, he realizes, has an eye open and is staring at him.

 

"Are we awake?" She asks, her voice slurring with sleep and she yawns, just noticing Sibella between her arms. With the prettiest smile, she closes her eyes again, nuzzles into Sibella's neck and mutters, barely audibly, "No, this is a dream."

 

Monty shakes his head, trying to wake himself out of this − nothing. He's still sitting butt naked on the expensive fur rug of Sibella's room and the girls are still cuddling just as naked on her pink bed.

 

" _Phoebe_ ," he hisses, trying not to wake Sibella, although in this instant, it would most likely do them a lot of good if she did and cared to explain this all. " _Why were we all naked in Sibella's bed?_ "

 

Sibella squirms, lets out some displeased groan, most likely at the headache of the hangover, and Phoebe presses a kiss against her cheek so tenderly Monty thinks he might just pass out again.

 

"I think we slept together," she says and Monty equally loves and dislikes how naturally that unbelievable statement comes out of her. "I don't remember it all, but…"

 

Sibella tenses up in Phoebe's arms and suddenly sits up, pushing herself back against the headboard, clutching the blankets in front of her. Blinking, she stares at Phoebe, who gives her a tentative smile, and at Monty, who is equally perplexed by their situation as she is, and she settles for burying her head between her folded arms on her knees.

 

"Oh my god…"

 

Monty pinches the brink of his nose, trying to think clear, but all that comes to mind are vague, albeit awe-inspiring images of Phoebe and Sibella wrapping themselves around each other to go to sleep after what is sure to have been an incredible night that he cannot remember at all. He grabs his briefs from the floor, puts them on and sits on the bed where Sibella is still hiding herself. Cautiously, he attempts to wrap an arm around her. Stiff at first, she relents and leans into him ever so slightly.

 

"I, erm…" He clears his throat. "I think we should talk about, erm, what happened. You're my best friends, both of you, and I…"

 

" _Best friends!_ " Sibella sighs exasperatedly, her pretty face lifting from her arms and Monty gulps at the fury on her traits. His arm drops from her shoulders. "Monty, best friends don't fall into bed with each other."

 

"Well…" He tries to defend themselves but with the faintest memories of what actually transpired, he can't exactly justify their actions.

 

Phoebe reaches down to get her hoodie from the floor and for that, Monty is grateful. A rational conversation is much easier when his stupid brain is not so distracted by her charms. She sits cross legged, hugging a pillow, but even then he thinks she looks lovelier than he's ever seen her, her loose hair a wavy curtain around her pink face. Among the three of them, only Phoebe is able to keep her calm and for that, Monty admires her.

 

"I don't remember everything," she says. "I mean, I do remember _some things_ …"

 

" _You_ ," Sibella points an accusing finger, "started all this! You… _kissed_ me, and this is all your fault, and…"

 

"Did I?" Phoebe asks, crestfallen. "But I don't _remember_. Was it a good kiss?"

 

Sibella's face turns two shades redder and Monty wants nothing more than to hold onto her. He takes her hand and sighs in relief when, instead of dropping it, Sibella squeezes it, pulling him close.

 

"Yes," she replies, burying her face against Monty's shoulder. "It was marvelous."

 

Phoebe lets out an adorable sound of delight, her hands fidgeting excitedly at her lap. Bouncing a little on the fluffy bed, she leans forward a bit towards where Monty and Sibella are sitting.

 

"I remember kissing _you_ ," she confesses to Monty, a naughty whisper, "And not just kissing, we… Well, you know what we did."

 

Monty doesn't and so ardently wishes he would. For months, he has been harboring the most intense crush on Phoebe D'Ysquith and her sincere smiles, her frank manners, her clever ideas, a crush only rivaled by his affection for Sibella Hallward, passionate and cunning, her politeness a mere façade for the fire inside. The three of them met on the first day of class and the few short months they have known each other feel like eternity to him. If he had sex with either of them last night, and everything suggests that he did, then he is very sorry to remember it so little. He sighs and scoots closer to Sibella.

 

"So none of us remember the whole thing, do we?"

 

Phoebe and Sibella shake their heads.

 

"And what does this… I mean, does it change anything?"

 

" _Of course_ it changes things," Sibella snaps, dropping Monty's hand like it burned her. She looks rather pink in the face and he doesn't like to think that it is anger or shame more than bashfulness blushing her cheeks. "I'm not… I wouldn't…"

 

Her mouth opens and closes and, falling silent, she hugs herself, looking away from either of them. Monty's heart sinks. If only he could make them both never feel sad ever again…

 

"I like you," he blurts out. "I really, really like you and sometimes I think I'm in love… Yes, I think I am."

 

"In love with me?" Phoebe and Sibella say in unison and then, disappointed, "Or in love with her?"

 

"Yes," Monty replies, holding out a hand for each of them to hold, "I love you both."

 

Phoebe beams like a ray of sunshine, the joy of her so warm and obvious it even prompts a shy smile out of Sibella.

 

"I love you both too!" She exclaims, joining them by the headboard, clutching Sibella's arm. "I have since we've met."

 

Monty's heart is jumping triple flips inside his chest and he wants nothing more than to kiss Phoebe − and not just − but then, there is Sibella between them who is resolutely staring down at her beautiful thin hands and suddenly she clings onto him, her face into his neck again, and she whimpers in a less than dignified manner.

 

"Oh, you will make me say it, won't you?" She groans into the crook of his neck and Monty wants to laugh. Pulling an arm around her, he hugs her tight and behind her, Phoebe does the same, wrapping Sibella in a double embrace of safety and trust. "Yes, fine, I love you two as well."

 

Phoebe kisses Sibella's neck, Monty her hair, holding her very close. Somehow the hangover doesn't seem to bad anymore.

 

"And all that from a night we can't even remember…" He ponders.

 

Sibella basks in the softness between them, stretching herself like a cat in a thin line of sun, and Monty cannot believe his luck at any of it, even less when Phoebe's hand closes around his on Sibella's hip. Her very naked hip…

 

"I only remember that you came to my room with a bottle to celebrate Christmas before I go home, and I'm not used to drinking and, well…"

 

"Then you kissed," Monty says slowly.

 

Sibella nods, her hair tickling his neck and he tells himself that this is the first time he ever sees her hair less than perfect.

 

"Then Phoebe and I kissed," she says, the word a faint whisper, "And then Phoebe wanted to know who was the better kisser, but I don't remember who won…"

 

"No one did," Phoebe chimes in. "Well, both of you did. I don't know. We were all very drunk…"

 

"And then?" Monty asks, trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice, but certain to be failing. "Then what did we do?"

 

Phoebe smiles coyly, interlacing her fingers with his, and she gives him a wink that leaves Monty with butterflies in his stomach.

 

"Then you used your fingers," she says and Monty feels his cheeks burn up despite himself. "On both of us. Then your mouth, and… Oh, Sibella, I wish you'd remember!"

 

Sibella turns around in their arms and Monty is all too grateful for at least the layer of his briefs as her butt rubs down against him. He swallows thickly and focuses on the story.

 

"Yes, I wish I did," Sibella says and though Monty only sees the glint in Phoebe's eyes from where he lays, he can only imagine the depth of intimacy in Sibella's gaze right now.

 

"Well, you're just as good as Monty," Phoebe replies. "And I hope I was…"

 

In her embarrassed pride, Sibella squirms back into Monty and he is quite certain that there is no misunderstanding or accident in her motion, not when she leans back against him, so full of trust, and maybe of lust as well. He kisses her shoulder, waiting for Phoebe to finish the story that is sure to do nothing to soften his arousal.

 

"Then we turned to Monty and I believe both of us were… satisfying."

 

Monty groans, rubbing his eyes in frustration.

 

"I've never wanted a night back as much as last night," he sighs. "I want to _remember_. All I remember is tucking each other to bed."

 

"Oh?"

 

"Sibella wanted to be in the middle…"

 

On cue, Sibella rubs against him ever so slightly, pulling his arm back, tighter around her waist.

 

"I'm sure I did," she says.

 

Monty holds her close, all the affection he's been trying to contain for months pouring out bit by bit, a kiss on her bare shoulder, a caress across her stomach, only heightened by finding Phoebe also in a cuddly mood.

 

"Now what do we do?" Sibella asks.

 

Phoebe bites her lip, a few seconds of hesitation before leaning into Sibella and giving her a kiss that leaves Monty breathless just witnessing it. Her eyes bright with excitement, she turns to him and leans up to kiss him and there it comes, Monty's first remembered kiss with Phoebe, and every detail of it, the softness of her lips, the passion poured into every touch, the hunger of it, is a million miles above what he had imagined − and he had imagined a lot. She breaks the kiss just as promptly as she did the one with Sibella, taking a foot of distance from them still nestled into each other. Glancing between the both of them, she smiles impishly.

 

"I have an idea…"

 

"Oh, not _that_ ," Sibella retorts at once. Much lower, she adds, "Not now."

 

"She's right," Monty says, although evidence to the contrary is pressed against Sibella's butt. "So we, erm, spent the night together, and we love each other, so…"

 

"So we're going out," Phoebe says with a merry, dreamy smile.

 

Sibella nudges her shoulder.

 

"No one says 'going out' anymore," she teases.

 

"Dating," Monty offers. "So we're dating?"

 

Sibella rests her head back against him, searching for comfort, and Monty kisses her neck gently. Her skin is just as soft as he'd thought, almost too big a distraction from her evident unease.

 

"Sibella?"

 

She sighs, offering her neck for another kiss, her hands doted on all the same by Phoebe's lips.

 

"What would people _say_?"

 

"They'll say, Oh Phoebe your girlfriend looks absolutely lovely, I'm so jealous!" Phoebe says, mirth glinting in her eyes. Rubbing Monty's arm, she adds, "Or they'll say, How did you manage that boyfriend, I have never met anyone as noble and gentle."

 

"You know that's not what I meant," Sibella says flatly. "I'm… I'm not like you." She squeezes Monty's hand. "Both of you. This is… This isn't what I thought would…"

 

"Realistically," Phoebe says, matching the seriousness in Sibella's voice, "Yes, some people might find this… odd, I suppose, but…" She kisses Sibella's hand again, like a promise, "Monty and I will always be there to fence them off, won't we, Monty?"

 

"Of course!"

 

Sibella nods, but Monty still sees the hint of a pout at her lips.

 

"I know it's, well, unconventional," he says, trying to be soothing, trying to hide how cute he finds her in this instant. "From the start I wanted you both but I didn't know this would start this way… I thought at least I'd be sober for our first kiss, and the rest of it, but I reckon we can make do with what we have… can't we?"

 

She looks at him, her beautiful blue eyes, and he asks himself if he's ever seen her without makeup before. Another thing lost to memory.

 

"Yes," she says finally. "Yes, I believe we might."

 

She kisses him and even with the headache, the confusion, and in all earnest the less than fresh breath from either of them, he wonders how such bliss could ever be suffered by one person's heart. Her fingers across his cheek, palming his stubble he'll have to take care of, and her cold toes stick against his calves, making him shiver. She gives him the most tender look and his heart is stolen once again, even more when she turns to Phoebe to share the same with her. Then, abruptly, she sits up and they watch her sashay her way to the adjacent bathroom, and Monty gulps at such beauty right before his eyes.

 

"I'm taking a shower," she announces and disappears in the bathroom.

 

Monty and Phoebe look at each other, and there is every meaning in the world between them, the relief of a requited crush, the softness of morning cuddles but the hunger for more. Their fingers find each other on the sheet and Monty stares down at their hands dumbly, still in awe at whatever happened here. The room feels like a mystical place and without its owner, it feels improper to break the spell. Phoebe breathes in deeply and looks about to say something brave when the door to the bathroom opens again sharply and their heads snap to Sibella's impatient face.

 

"Well, are we doing this together or what?"

 

Neither of them can scramble off the bed fast enough to join her.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you've read this I beg you to leave a comment, even just a few words so I know if you've enjoyed this. This fandom has such a tiny readership I have no idea if anyone likes anything I put out.


End file.
